Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

"The American president claims that Persia has been defeated."

"Island nations have ample oil reserves, and the public need not worry."

"An explosion occurred in a building in the Minato Ward. The Metropolitan Police Department's initial investigation suggests it may have been a gas explosion."

……

Akira Nagayama was scrolling through his phone out of boredom. As for why he was bored—

He was shopping with Hoshimiya Ei.

The lights in the women's clothing section of the mall poured down from the spotlights on the ceiling, illuminating rows of neatly hung clothes racks. The clothes on the racks ranged in color from off-white to light gray to pale pink, like rows of soft clouds floating in this warm yellow light.

Hoshimiya Ei stood at the door of the fitting room, wearing a light blue dress with the hem just past her knees. She looked down at the hem, then turned to look at the side profile, and then looked up.

"Nagayama, how's this one?"

Akira Nagayama leaned against a pillar outside, carrying a paper bag containing the two outfits that Akira Hoshimiya had tried on earlier. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt. Upon hearing Akira Hoshimiya's voice, he looked up from his phone and glanced at her.

"nice."

"Couldn't you have said just a couple more words?" Hoshimiya Ei pulled her skirt to the left, then to the right. "Which one is better, this one or the white floral one from before?"

"That's fine."

Hoshimiya Ei glared at him, turned around and walked back to the fitting room, the curtain slamming shut behind her.

Akira Nagayama put his phone back in his pocket, his gaze shifting from the fitting room curtain to the entrance of the women's clothing section. There stood a man in his forties, stocky and wearing a dark blue polo shirt, pretending to look at his phone. A small metal badge, its color blending seamlessly with the fabric, was pinned to the collar of his polo shirt; it was practically invisible unless you looked closely. The Operations Department had been following him and Akira Hoshimiya from a distance ever since they left the shrine, changing personnel every so often—a very professional approach.

Akira Nagayama withdrew his gaze.

His fingers tapped lightly twice on the drawstring of the paper bag. The gas explosion in the port area was probably Yoshida Nobuko's doing. That girl no longer needed him to push her from the shadows; she would go herself, take action herself, and find what she wanted herself.

He thought of Nobuko Yoshida, and from that he thought of Sho Yoshida.

That was the first pebble he threw into this world.

A pebble is dropped into the water, creating ripples. Yoshida Sho's death gave rise to the "Zhenshui" coral, which attracted the Americans, who extracted the active ingredient for creating the Prometheus potion from the coral.

Yoshida Sho's younger sister, Yoshida Nobuko, possessed his "Beak Fire" destiny. She took up the demon-slaying weapon forged from his spark iron and became a fire-elemental monk.

Yoshida Sho's resentment coalesced into an evil spirit in the Water Virtue Badlands. The dissipation of the evil spirit led to Hoshimiya Ei's first public appearance, and also prompted the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States to fully intervene in the supernatural forces.

A mere Daoist demon who hadn't even reached the Qi Refining stage stirred up the spiritual atmosphere of the entire Tokyo after his death.

After the five elements were gathered, he habitually went through the chess pieces he had laid out over the past few months one by one during breaks in his cultivation. Hoshimiya Ei, Wood Virtue, [Well Wood] Destiny, *The Prosperous Flourishing of Plants*. Yoshida Nobuko, Fire Virtue, [Beak Fire] Destiny, *The Wrathful Form of Vajra*. The catfish at the bottom of the Arakawa River, Earth Virtue, [Stomach Earth] traversing [Wall Water], using the "Demon's Finger" as its inner elixir. Maeda Shunichi, Sun Virtue, [Void Sun] Destiny, *The Buddha's Discourse on the Light of Relinquishment*. His own, Metal Virtue traversing Moon Virtue, [Demon Metal] Destiny traversing [Bi Moon], *The Divine Scripture of the Carriage of Ghosts*.

There is only one bad place associated with the Water Virtue, which was left behind by Yoshida Sho after his death; it is not a place for cultivators.

Although the Americans have produced some cultivators with mixed qi who are involved in the [Zhen Water], these mixed qi cultivators are completely unable to support the water virtue aspect.

The water element in the Five Elements cycle is currently being barely sustained by the stagnant, dead water area in the evil land of water, which is filled with resentment and the remnants of the true energy of the Zhen Water.

He needs a true water-virtue cultivator, preferably one with the proper water-virtue position of the [Zhen Water] type.

The curtain in the fitting room was suddenly pulled open, and Hoshimiya Eiryu changed back into her own clothes, wearing a white dress and red hakama, holding the light blue dress and the white floral dress she had tried on before.

"I'll take both."

Akira Nagayama took the clothes from her and walked towards the cashier.

A piano piece was playing over the mall's loudspeaker, its melody slow and gentle, like background music specifically designed for shopping spaces, designed to make people linger among the shelves for a few more minutes. Suddenly, the loudspeaker emitted a piercing static, the piano music stopped abruptly, and a man's voice took its place.

The man's voice was soft and steady, as if he were reciting a line he had rehearsed many times.

"Listen to me, everyone. This world is heading towards destruction. The things you see in the news every day—wars, plagues, disasters—are just the surface. The real reason is that God has abandoned this world. The only way to change God's mind is through humanity's conversion. We are a community of converts. We are the last hope for God to have mercy on this world again."

What is this?

The broadcast continued. The man's tone gradually changed from steady to a deliberately lowered, chest-resonant voice, as if imitating the chanting of some religious ceremony.

"Joining us is not about giving up your current life. Joining us is so that when God shows mercy to this world again, you can stand on the side of salvation. Our name is 'The Church of Truth'."

Then, a loud commotion could be heard over the loudspeaker, indicating that someone was being pushed around and the speaker had been kicked out.

Oh, it's a cult, then that's not surprising.

Due to the influence of the United States' "freedom of religion" policy, there are countless cults in the island nation, which have a very bad influence. Former prime ministers have been assassinated because of this.

He sensed something, and the phantom images of three copper coins appeared from his fingertips, the invisible destiny connected by the divination.

A person whose destiny is governed by the Water element.

【Ji Shui】 refers to well water, which governs wind and gossip.

There was a person named "Ji Shui" who was connected to that cult.

Footsteps came from the direction of the fitting room. She had already walked to the cashier and was taking out her credit card from her wallet.

"Nagayama, what are you daydreaming about?"

He turned off his phone screen and retrieved the illusory image of the copper coin from his fingertips.

"It's nothing," he said, switching the paper bag to his left hand and following Hoshimiya Emi towards the escalator.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the emergency exit on the second floor of the mall was suddenly smashed open.

A dozen or so people in white robes poured out of the passage. The man leading them was around forty years old, bald, and holding a portable megaphone. It was the same voice that had just been broadcast.

The men in white robes split into two groups. One group blocked the escalator entrance, while the other moved quickly along the corridor, stuffing flyers into the hands of dumbfounded customers. The flyers featured an open eye, with another eye nested within its pupil, layer upon layer, reaching deep into the fibers of the paper.

"God's eyes are watching you!" The bald man held the megaphone to his mouth, his voice echoing repeatedly under the mall's glass dome. "You think you're shopping, having fun, living an ordinary life—you're wrong! Every breath you take each day is a gift from God, and God is tired of it!"

Two security guards ran up from the first floor, only to be surrounded by four men in white robes as soon as they stepped onto the second floor. The men in white robes didn't make a move, but simply circled around them, repeatedly chanting the same phrase: "Convert, convert, convert." The chanting was so synchronized that it sounded like it was coming from a single person. The security guards were trapped in the middle, unable to advance or retreat.